Lamentations 3:38

Lamentations 3:38, in plain English

Both suffering and blessing come from God—he's the source of all that happens—so we can trust that he's working through the entire arc of our lives.

Why it's here

The speaker is making a comprehensive statement: God isn't surprised by hardship or limited to blessing. He orchestrates the whole spectrum of human experience. For exiles wondering how God could allow this devastation, the answer is: he's aware of it all and working through it all.

Who's speaking

The narrator, articulating the full scope of God's control over circumstances.

Where it sits in the story

This reflects the theology of Job and Ecclesiastes: God governs the whole range of human experience. It doesn't mean suffering is good, but that it's not outside God's purposes or knowledge. This becomes crucial for understanding suffering in a biblical way.

The scholarly reading

Both calamity and prosperity emanate from God's sovereign utterance, establishing divine governance over the entire spectrum of human experience.

Language and setting

The Hebrew *ra'* (calamity, evil) and *tov* (good) represent cosmic polarities. The coordination 'do not both...come' (*'im lo*) does not deny that both proceed from God but rather questions why humans complain when they recognize this reality. The formulation challenges the human tendency to attribute good fortune to divine benevolence while ascribing suffering to demonic or impersonal forces.

Voice

The speaker poses a philosophical question, inviting the audience to recognize the logical implications of monotheistic faith.

Significance

This echoes Job's principle (Job 2:10) and remains theologically contested. Augustine struggled mightily with the problem of evil (*malum*) in reconciling it with divine omnipotence and benevolence. Later theodicies would distinguish between God's permissive and active will in response to this verse's apparent determinism.

36to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.

37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

39Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

40Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.

Read all of Lamentations 3 — I am the man who has seen affliction. From the pit, the poet reaches for the only hope left: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies are new every morning.